Nathan, 20, that he was revising for the end of year exams when his friends decided to play the prank.

Nathan, who studies Maths and Computer science, said he didn't see the funny side at the time, especially as they even took the trouble to record his furious reaction when he found his car wrapped up like a half-eaten sandwich.

"I was absolutely fuming when I first saw what they'd done to my car, but I guess it was actually pretty funny." He told the Mail

"I had been revising for my exams in my room all day, and Raj kept trying to get me to go outside. I thought he was acting a bit strange."

"He eventually asked me to move my car because he needed to park his car behind it, and he followed me outside."

"I wouldn't like to repeat what I called him. My flatmates just stood and filmed me while I unwrapped the whole thing. It took ages."

Cheap deal on cling film

The whole thing seems to have been an opportunistic prank. Raj Bariah, who wrapped the car, said he had been sold the cling film on the cheap, and thought of the prank afterwards.

"My mate's dad said he had a job lot of clingfilm and asked if we wanted to buy it." Raj, who studies computer science, said.

"The opportunity was too good to resist. I knew I had to use it to prank one of my flatmates, and then I came up with the idea of covering Nathan's car."

"It actually took us longer to cover the car than it did for him to unwrap it. It was quite tricky, especially wrapping the bits underneath."

"We used more than 20 rolls of the stuff - more than 200 metres."

Revenge

Raj says he is on the lookout for revenge from Nathan. Earlier in the year they filled another friend's room with more than 1,000 balloons, and regularly prank each other.

"It gave us all a good laugh and there was no lasting damage. I'm watching my back now though, I'm sure Nathan will be out for revenge."

Cocoon

The car was so completely covered in cling film there were rumours going around twitter that it was actually some kind of chrysalis car about to emerge into a butterfly.

@BSresponse It's an old-car caterpillar in its cocoon. After a few weeks it emerges as a brand new car.

The police, who spotted the car whilst on patrol on Alton Road, just yards from the Selly Oak campus, don't seem to be taking the prank too seriously, engaging in jokes on twitter about the wrapped car.

The Boring Bit

SMS wants to help you live the life you want on the budget you're stuck with but we aren't the Economic Bible, so please don't take our word as gospel as we can't accept any liability if our tips aren't right for you – everyone's different, after all.

We read our links before posting them but we aren't responsible for their content.